The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre is extremely popular at the moment, and now developer Epic Games is jumping on board with Paragon.
Paragon is a MOBA “with explosive action, direct third-person control, and deep strategic choice,” Epic Games’ Executive Producer John Wasilczyk announced at the PlayStation Experience in San Francisco today.
The game is five-versus-five and has three lanes, a jungle, minions, towers, and cores. It will be released on PlayStation 4 and PC in 2016. Online testing starts in January, followed by paid early access in spring, and open beta in summer.
“The best competitive games are built together, by players and developers,” said Wasilczyk, hinting that Epic Games is listening carefully to player feedback.
Epic Games is known for its Unreal Engine game development technology, which powers its popular first-person shooter series Unreal.
One thing that definitely stands out from the Paragon announcement trailer is the artwork and graphics. The battleground is stunning, with extremely minute detail. And there are some unique very real-looking characters thrown in there as well.
But, in an already saturated market Paragon will come up against some heavy competition. Dota 2, League of Legends and Blizzard’s newly-released Heroes of the Storm have already established a loyal fan base, and it could be hard for Paragon to compete—especially with huge esports tournaments already built around the existing games.
Images via Epic Games/YouTube
